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■ 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS, 


BY 


I  ' 


WORTHINGTON  SMITH,  D.  D. 


UNIVERSHY.  OB 
UIHCiS  LIBRARS 


AN 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


©elxoerca  jTrtln  3l0t,  1849. 


BY  WORTHINGTON  SMITH,  D.  D., 

President  of  the  University  of  Vermont. 


PUBLISHED    BY   THE   CORPORATION- 


BURLINGTON : 

UNIVEPwSITY    PRESS 

1849.' 


c 


ADDRESS 


Incidents  like  the  present,  though  not  of  rave  oc- 
currence in  the  history  of  our  colleges,  and  perhaps  not 
of  great  intrinsic  importance — are  nevertheless  permit- 
ted, through  the  courtesy  of  the  Public,  to  occupy  their 
hour  among  the  events  of  the  day. 

They  serve,  it  is  conceived,  as  a  fit  occasion  to  invite 
the  public  mind  to  contemplate  the  uses  and  ends  of  our 
Literary  Institutions;  the  wants  in  which  they  take 
their  rise  and  which  they  are  designed  to  supply  ;  the 
abuse  to  which  they  are  liable,  and  the  neglect  under 
which  they  may  suffer  to  the  public  detriment ;  to  mark 
their  progress  or  decline ;  to  observe  their  adaptation  or 
unfitness  to  the  higher  developements  of  social  life ;  to 
consider  the  improvements  of  which  they  are  still  sus- 
ceptible, and  the  claims  they  may  possess  on  the  vigi- 
lance, the  sympathy,  and  patronage  of  an  enlightened 
christian  public. 

To  a  community,  into  which  the  elements  of  a  Christ- 
ian civilization  were  to  be  infused,  the  importance  of 
an  institution  for  the  nurture  and  diffusion  of  sound 
Learning  and  Morals,  did  not  escape  the  notice  of 
those  practical,  clear-sighted  men  who  nursed  the  in- 
fancy of  this  northern  Republic.  At  that  early  period 
in  the  history  of  a  people,  when  to  provide  for  the  im- 
mediate safety  and  sustenance  of  their  families,  to  open 


the  forest  for  cultivation,  and  defend  their  titles  to  the 
soil  which  they  occupied,  seem  to  circumscribe  the  du- 
ties of  the  citizen  and  the  patriot ;  at  a  time  when  pow- 
erful adversaries  beleagured  them,  when  every  man's 
harvest  was  insecure,  and  the  future  overcast  with  un- 
certainty and  gloom — there  were  in  the  midst  of  us, 
and  enjoying-  the  confidence  of  the  people  because  they 
had  adopted  the  spirit  and  views  of  the  people,  a  class 
of  thoughtful,  far-seeing  minds  who  discerned  in  the 
distance  a  strong  and  healthy  Republic  overspreading 
these  hills  and  vallies,  and  felt  themselves  called  to  lay 
its  foundations  in  virtue  and  intelligence.  Here  was  a 
Chittenden,  a  tower  of  confidence;  a  Paine,  cautious, 
vigilant,whosehigh  spirit  disdained  the  craven  policy  of 
exchanging  our  public  domain  for  the  privilege  of  edu- 
cating the  sons  of  Vermont,  on  the  soil  of  a  sister  state. 
Here  was  an  Allen,  of  warm  and  generous  impulses ; 
a  Chipman,  sagacious,  profound ;  a  Williams,  consider- 
ate, scholarlike,  learned  ;  with  other  worthy  associates 
whose  names  will  be  uttered  with  respect  in  future 
times. 

Minds  of  this  order  and  of  such  qualities  among  us, 
were  early  directed  to  the  subject  of  founding  an  uni- 
versity or  college  as  a  matter  of  high  public  concern- 
ment. An  interval  of  several  years  indeed  elapsed  be- 
tween the  first  public  agitation  of  this  subject,  and  the 
granting  of  a  charter  in  1791  ;  yet  the  measure  seems 
at  no  period  to  have  been  lost  sight  of.  The  idea  came, 
in  time,  to  pervade  the  general  mind,  that  the  public 
service  rendered  indispensable  the  aid  of  an  educated 
class  of  men.  It  was  perceived  that  for  the  state  to 
deprive  herself  of  such  aid  was  sure  to  impede  her 
growth  and  improvement;  and  to  depend  on  foreign 


5 

sources  for  the  supply,  was  to  sink  to  a  provincial  rank 
among  the  confederated  states.  It  was  remembered 
that  even  Rome,  in  the  pride  of  her  power,  felt  her  hu- 
miliation so  long*  as  her  gifted  sons  sought  in  the 
schools  of  Greece  and  her  colonies,  the  nurture  she  had 
neglected  to  provide  for  them  at  home. 

As  a  measure  then  of  state  economy,  and  for  pre- 
serving state  independence  ;  and  more  even  than  this, 
as  a  means  of  perpetuating-  the  character  and  cherish- 
ing" the  spirit  peculiar  to  any  people,  as  well  as  for  the 
love  of  learning-  and  the  aids  and  incentives  to  its  pur- 
suit which  are  derived  from  them,  no  sovereig-n  People 
can  well  dispense  with  the  higher  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, or  afford  to  expatriate  their  sons  for  an  education. 
The  enlightened  sentiment  expressed  in  the  preamble 
to  our  charter,  that "  the  establishment  of  seminaries  and 
colleges,  as  they  tend  to  render  the  people  of  any  state 
respectable,  have  ever  been  fostered  by  all  good  gov- 
ernments," was  fully  apprehended  by  the  early  inhabi- 
tants of  this  state ;  and  though  few  in  number  and  far 
removed  from  a  condition  of  affluence,  they  adopted 
measures  of  almost  unprecedented  vigor  to  supply 
within  their  own  borders  the  demands  for  academic  in- 
struction which  it  was  foreseen  must  soon  arise.  The 
poor  were  emulous  of  the  rich  in  their  individual  exer- 
tions to  promote  so  laudable  an  enterprise.  The  Leg- 
islature of  the  state  favored  it  by  granting  a  charter  for 
an  University,  distinguished  for  its  wise  and  liberal 
provisions  ;  and  set  an  example  of  public  patronage  by 
conveying  to  it,  in  perpetuity,  the  use  of  all  such  grants 
as  had  been  made,  for  the  benefit  of  a  college,  under 
the  authority  of  the  state.  The  public  zeal  thus  mani- 
fested in  the  cause  of  liberal  education,  was  not  sudden- 


ly  extinguished.  So  late  as  the  year  1810,  the  follow- 
ing- emphatic  language,  from  the  pen  of  Lieut.  Gover- 
nor Leland,  was  approved  and  adopted  by  the  Assem- 
bly, that  "  the  interests  of  the  University  of  Vermont, 
originally  designed  to  receive  the  immediate  patron age 
of  the  Legislature,  merit  the  most  serious  and  delibe- 
rate consideration. " 

But  public  opinion,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  some- 
what declined  from  those  broad  and  enlightened  views 
on  educational  policy  which  obtained  in  more 
primitive  times;  and  it  is  even  become  one  of  the 
questions  of  the  day,  and  by  no  means  confined  to 
weak  and  narrow  minds,  whether  the  time  is  not  gone 
by  in  which  the  higher  institutions  of  Learning  are  to 
be  fostered  as  a  distinct  branch  of  educational  econo- 
my ?  Do  not  such  institutions  belong  to  the  scholastic 
age  of  man,  or  to  the  early,  formative  stage  of  society, 
and  constitute  one  of  those  temporary  expedients  which 
are  useful  and  perhaps  indispensable  to  the  infancy  of 
states ;  but  which,  like  certain  primitive  functions  oc- 
casionally to  be  met  with  in  the  animal  tribes,  having 
fulfilled  their  office  are  superseded  by  other  and  more 
perfect  ones,  and  so  at  last  disappear.  Not  only  do 
certain  instincts,  once  necessary  to  the  preservation  of 
life,  become  actually  lost  in  the  progress  of  the  animal 
towards  maturity ;  but  even  the  form  and  substance  of 
a  vital  organ  is  said  to  give  place  to  a  new  develope- 
ment — seeking  indeed  the  same  end,  but  by  means  of  a 
different  apparatus,  and  adapting  the  animal  to  a  more 
etherial  element  and  to  a  higher  form  of  life.  And  it 
may  be  asked,  if  some  analogy  may  not  be  traced  in 
this  change  in  the  organs  of  animal  life,  to  what,  at  a 


certain  period,  may  be  expected  in  some  of  the  func- 
tions of  social  life  ! 

The  period,  in  which  the  learned  institutions  of  the 
old  world  are  supposed  to  have  taken  their  rise,  is 
doubtless  distinguishable  in  some  essential  respects  from 
the  present.  Christendom  was  then  overspread  with 
intellectual  darkness,  pierced  only,and  at  remote  points, 
by  the  beams  of  some  learned  cloister,  or  the  solitary 
ray  of  some  studious  hermit,  struggling  feebly  with  the 
all-enfolding  gloom.  The  masses  were  unlettered.  No 
method  had  been  devised  for  multiplying  copies  of  an- 
cient or  recent  manuscripts  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
few  scholars  of  the  age.  The  prince  and  the  subject, 
the  nobility  and  the  commons,  were  almost  alike  igno- 
rant and  rude ;  while  the  sons  of  the  Church,  religious 
and  secular,  with  clerkship  enough  to  make  dupes  of 
the  Laity,  were  withal  too  self-seeking  and  wary  to  be- 
tray the  instruments  of  their  power  by  opening  inlets 
of  knowledge  to  the  popular  mind. 

Now  that  the  few  studious  minds  scattered  over  this 
wide  intellectual  waste,  should  be  drawn  together  by 
some  law  of  literary  affinity ;  that  masters  should  lead 
their  pupils  to  some  common  point  made  luminous  by 
the  centralization  of  learned  men  and  the  helps  to  learn- 
ing, seems  to  have  been  the  only  method  at  hand  which 
promised  the  revival  and  diffusion  of  Letters.  This 
process  seems  to  have  been  historically  realized  in  the 
formation  of  the  venerable  universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  and  not  unlikely  of  the  most  early  univer- 
sities on  the  continent.  Originally,  as  they  are  describ- 
ed to  us,  they  were  a  group  of  independent  schools  un- 
der their  respective  masters.  These  in  the  lapse  of 
time  took  on  the  type  of  permanent  institutions  under 


8 

the  denomination  of  colleges :  and  finally,  by  act  of 
legislature,  or  what  is  more  probable  perhaps,  by -the 
tendency  of  like  thing's  to  unity,  these  colleges,  without 
merging  their  individuality ,became  parts  of  one  complex 
institution.  At  such  points  as  these,  whether  determ- 
ined on  by  concert  or  accident,  learned  men  would  na- 
turally be  brought  together  ;  a  literary  spirit  would  be 
cultivated,  and  literary  enterprises  projected.  Princes 
and  affluent  men  would  be  induced  to  encourage  so 
laudable  a  movement  by  endowing  faculties,  and  sup- 
plying expensive  materials  for  knowledge  and  progress ; 
and  scholars  would  go  forth,  in  time,  to  awaken  the 
spirit  of  improvement  in  the  mass  of  society.  No  oth- 
er expedient,  manifestly,  could  meet  the  wants  of  the 
social  mind  and  supply  the  means  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture in  such  an  emergency,  but  the  fostering  of  a  few 
eminent  seats  of  Learning  for  the  training  of  those  who 
were  to  become  the  educators  of  the  people.  This, 
then,  is  the  object  to  be  sought  by  these  institutions  at 
the  time  of  their  rise.  They  were  needful  for  the  age; 
a  remedy  for  the  evils  peculiar  to  the  period  in  which 
they  rose  into  being ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  perceive  by 
what  other  expedient  an  impulse  could  have  been  giv- 
en to  the  cause  of  improvement ;  or  what  other  force, 
than  the  one  here  generated,  could  have  penetrated  the 
dormant  mass  of  the  popular  mind  and  awakened  it  to 
intellectual  life. 

But  gliding  along  a  period  of  centuries,  and  especial- 
ly passing  from  the  old  world  where  society  is  every 
where  oppressed  with  the  spirit  if  not  the  forms  of  feu- 
dal life,  we  enter  an  era  of  time  and  a  region  of  the 
earth  where  a  new  order  of  social  life  obtains ;  where 
all  is  fresh  and  youthful,  full  of  hope  and  promise. 


The  eye  Calls  on  a  race  of  freemen,  erect,  intelligent, 
strong  In  purpose  and  manly  in  enterprise.  Here  prog- 
ress is  impeded  by  the  accumulated  wrecks  of  no  hoary 
systems  of  folly  or  oppression.  Here  are  no  castes,  no 
lords  and  vassals,  no  monopolies,or  privileged  orders. 
A  bigoted  Priesthood  or  intolerant  Church,  even  were 
it  so  disposed,  has  not  the  power  to  molest  our  liberties 
or  constrain  our  faith.  Moreover,  here  are  schools  pro- 
vided to  nurse  every  new-born  mind  with  the  milk  of 
knowledge,  and  train  it  for  the  duties  of  the  man  and 
the  citizen.  Here  is  the  press,  scattering  over  the  land 
its  pregnant  sheets 

tt  Thick  as  autumnal  leaves  that  strew  the  brooks  " 

"In  Vallombrosa. " 

Magnificent  libraries  of  rare  and  choice  reading  are 
amassed  at  convenient  points  of  access,  and  through 
the  liberality  of  their  founders  made  available  to  studi- 
ous youth  in  whatever  pursuit  in  life.  Books  in  almost 
every  department  of  thought  and  inquiry,  and  at  so 
moderate  a  price,  are  now  exposed  in  our  literary  marts, 
that  an  ordinary  farmer  or  mechanic  is  able  to  exhibit 
from  his  domestic  shelves  a  more  extensive  and  valua- 
ble collection  of  reading,  than  could  often  be  found  in 
learned  monasteries,  and  even  in  some  royal  universi- 
ties. Lyceums,  moreover,  and  halls  for  discussion  and 
debate,  are  common  to  the  rural  village  as  to  the  peo- 
pled city.  Popular  lectures  in  science  and  art,  in  his- 
tory, jurisprudence,  politic-,  and  general  literature, 
may  almost  every  where,  after  a  sort,  be  enjoyed ;  while 
in-iiuments  for  scientific  illustration  and  experiment  are 
become  familiar  to  our  common  schools.  One  may  al- 
most fancy  himself  as  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  a  na^ 
ti   nnl  university,  whore  the  wholo  peiplo  are  brought 


10 

together  in  the  capacity  either  of  master  or  pupil ; 
where  all  aids  and  facilities  to  learning  are  supplied— 
all  faculties  endowed,  all  science  and  art  taught ;  and, 
what  is  best  of  all,  every  teacher  and  learner  domicil- 
iated around  his  own  hearth-stone. 

Why  then  it  is  asked,  and  on  no  occasion  is  the  ques- 
tion more  pertinent  than  the  present,  why  ought  we 
not  to  dispense  with  these  antique,  scholastic,  not  to 
say,  cloistered  institutions?  Although  important  and 
needful  to  society  in  times  gone  by,  is  not  their  office 
at  length  superseded — or  rather  absorbed  in  the  devel- 
opement  of  a  higher,  more  comprehensive  law  of  so- 
cial progress,  which  the  lapse  of  ages  has  been  slowly 
unfolding?  In  short,  is  not  their  appropriate  mission 
fulfilled ;  and  the  time  come  for  directing  the  public 
mind  to  a  more  popular  and  less  scholastic  method  for 
securing  the  higher  forms  of  culture — while  our  pres- 
ent institutions,  those  venerable  servitors  of  a  past  and 
less  fortunate  age,  are  consigned  to  an  honorable  sep- 
ulture  ? 

In  answer  to  inquiries  of  this  sort,  and  more  especi- 
ally with  a  view  to  correct  what  is  conceived  to  be  the 
mistaken  and  narrow  views  whence  they  arise;  I  would 
ask  attention,  in  a  few  remarks,  to  the  origin,  the  true 
ground  and  aim,  of  a  comprehensive  system  of  nurture 
suited  to  a  christian  people ;  the  office  and  influence  of 
educational  institutions  as  the  means  of  realizing  the 
idea  embodied  in  such  a  system ;  the  place  which  a  Col- 
lege must  occupy  in  a  popular  educational  economy, 
not  only  as  an  integral  part  thereof,  but  as  indirectly  af- 
fecting the  whole ;  and  lastly,  the  direct  and  powerful 
influence  for  good  which  it  exerts  on  all  the  abiding  in- 
terests of  society. 


11 

That  the  educational  movement  of  recent  times  took 
its  rise  in  the  Christian  elementwill  be  conceded  by  all 
who  reflect  that  under  a  similar  form  Christianity  put 
herself  forth  at  the  beginning-;  that  she  awakened  a 
spirit  of  inquiry  and  a  thirst  for  knowledge  in  whatev- 
er land  she  visited,  however  rude  and  barbarous ;  that 
an  educational  movement  more  or  less  intense,  accord- 
ing- as  her  power  over  the  public  mind  was  less  or 
more  impeded,  has  attended  her  progress  through  the 
past ;  and  that  at  this  day  nearly  the  same  lines  which 
bound  the  area  of  her  influence,  limit  also  the  sphere 
of  human  improvement  and  progress.  Indeed,  before 
a  Christain  audience  it  may  be  maintained,  I  trust, 
without  offence,  that  culture,  intellectual,  moral,  spirit- 
ual, social,  is  the  proximate,  definitive  end  which 
Christianity  proposes  to  itself.  Its  Founder  is  denomi- 
nated *  a  Teacher  come  from  God ' — '  the  Light  of  the 
world ' — He  himself  utters  the  emphatic  words  before 
the  Roman  prefect — "  to  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for 
this  cause  came  I  into  the  world  that  I  should  bear 
witness  unto  the  truth."  This  was  the  boon  which  an 
ignorant,  miserable  race  needed,  and  which  it  sighed  for 
from  the  Father  of  lights — l  the  God  of  all  grace.' 

There  was  no  lack  of  devotion  on  the  earth — devo- 
tion earnest  and  absorbing;  but  uninformed,  misapplied, 
and  therefore  degrading.  There  were  'lords  many  and 
gods  many.'  Temples,  exhausting  the  wealth  and  ar- 
tistic skill  of  nations,  adorned  the  cities  of  men.  Altars 
smoked  from  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and  idols 
smiled  or  frowned  on  all  places  of  concourse  for  busi- 
ness or  pleasure.  What  was  needed  was  a  teacher,  a 
witness  to  the  truth — an  informing,  guiding,  hallowing 
power   to  restore  a   lapsed  race,  and  gather  the  dis- 


12 

persed  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  A  mission  for  such 
ends  Divine  Wisdom  vouchsafed  in  the  person  of  a 
Mediator;  and  from  that  moment  a  new  system  of 
teaching-  and  culture,  adequate  to  the  .wants  of  an  im- 
mortal mind,  and  suited  to  the  manifold  conditions  of 
the  race,  dawned  upon  the  world.  A  religion  that 
wrought  inwardly  that  it  might  work  outwardly ;  a  re- 
ligion of  ideas,  principles,  sentiments,  and  not  merely 
of  forms  or  impulses,  became  the  inheritance  of  man. 
The  Teacher  henceforth  took  the  place  of  the  Priest ; 
and  thought,  living  and  imperishable,  began  to  awaken 
and  direct  the  activities  of  dormant  intellect. 

The  Church,  as  the  embodiment  of  Christianity,  is  es- 
sentially a  school  for  learning  and  nurture.  This  is  one 
of  the  marks  by  which  in  all  times  and  places  she 
has  been  identified — her  quod  ubique,  quod  semper, 
et  quod  ab  omnibus.  It  is  this  feature  that  distinguishes 
Christianity  from  all  other  known  religions,  and  gives 
her  pie-eminence  over  all.  Other  religions  may  have 
tolerated  intellectual  developement ;  or  to  speak  more 
truly,  may  not  have  been  able  to  arrest  it.  It  is  the 
Christian  that  aids,  quickens,  and  directs  this  develope- 
ment ;  inviting  to  the  utmost  expansion  of  intellectual 
and  moral  power,  and  teaching  it  to  invade  all  fields  of 
thought  and  knowledge,  and  enterprise. 

The  Church  is  Christianity  under  its  outward,  social 
aspect;  representing  historically  its  true  tendencies, 
and  to  be  regarded  as  the  exponent  of  its  power  for 
any  particular  place  or  age.  This  element  from  above 
leavens  the  mass  which  it  permeates,  and  becomes  to 
society, what  it  is  in  its  own  nature,  '  The  truth  and  the 
Life.'  It  influences  the  spirit,  the  customs  and  general 
character  of  society  ,by  influencing  the  individuals  of  which 


13 

society  is  composed.  Adapting-  itself  to  man's  higher 
nature,  and  becoming  to  him  a'life  within  life,  it  awak- 
ens the  intellect  to  all  earnest  thought,  and  the  heart  to 
insatiable  longings  and  strivings  after  the  stature  of  the 
full-grown  man.  As  a  philosophical,  no  less  than  pop- 
ular description  of  the  social  influences  of  Christianity, 
our  mother  tongue  does  not  supply  a  more  significant 
term  than  that  of  '  Awakening' — a  word  hallowed  by 
the  usage  of  more  serious  and  devout  times ;  but  now 
alike  abused  both  by  cant  and  ribaldry.  Whatever 
Christianity  does  for  the  individual  or  the  mass,  it  does 
by  an  influence  which  this  word  imports.  It  is  a  spirit 
giving  life — quickening  the  latent  powers  and  sensibili- 
ties of  the  mind,  and  supplying  at  once  the  impulse  and 
the  law  of  its  progress. 

It  is  then  in  the  Christian  element  that  we  seek  the 
ground-form,  the  scope,  and  aim  of  a  system  of  educa- 
tion suited  to  a  Christian  people.  Historically,  Christi- 
anity is  the  condition  on  which  a  system  of  popular  ed- 
ucation is  possible.  Such  a  system  can  be  realized  on- 
ly as  it  is  a  part  of  Christianity  itself — taking  its  type 
and  model,  as  well  as  its  inception  and  impulse  from 
this  supernatural  element.  By  means  of  popular  nur- 
ture it  is,  that  Christianity  strives  for  its  highest  realiza- 
tion on  the  earth ;  and  only  as  a  people  are  actually  or 
prospectively  Christian,  are  they  competent  to  receive 
the  benefit  of  such  a  system  of  nurture.  She  embodies 
herself  no  less  truly  in  an  educational  than  in  an  ecclesi- 
astical Polity.  Her  home  is  the  school-house  and  the 
college  no  less  than  the  sanctuary ;  her  servants,  the 
teachers  of  our  youth,  as  well  as  the  ministers  in  high 
places.  Hostility  to  popular  education,  to  the  establish- 
ed means   and   methods   for  its  promotion,   no   less 


14 

than  hostility  to  the  Church  and  her  institutions,  is  war 
against  christianity,and  war  penetrating*  to  her  firesides 
and  altars. 

As  then  Christianity  is  the  source  of  our  educational 
movement,  so  we  seek  her  guidance  in  the  systems  we 
construct  and  in  the  aims  we  pursue.  We  adopt  a 
system  for  the  whole  community ;  because  Christianity 
eschews  distinction  between  Jew  and  Greek,  the  bond 
and  free ;  and  society  must  repudiate  its  Christianity 
when  it  proposes  to  leave  any  order  or  condition  of 
mind  without  the  means  of  culture.  Moreover,  we 
aim  to  impart  knowledge  to  the  open  and  susceptible 
mind ;  not  however  for  the  alone  sake  of  knowledge, 
but  primarily  as  the  means  of  developement  and  train- 
ing— the  material  for  thought  to  work  upon,  and  by 
working  to  give  strength,  and  aptitude,  and  self-control 
to  the  mind,  that  it  may  grow  up  to  the  stature,  the 
power,  and  symmetry  of  the  perfect  man.  And  here 
it  will  occur  to  the  merely  casual  observer,  that  knowl-* 
edge,  as  existing  objectively  and  in  formulas  or  facts, 
subserves  a  two-fold  purpose ;  as  an  instrument  of  the 
mind's  self-nurture,  and  as  an  auxiliary  to  its  power 
when  applied  to  the  concerns  of  life.  A  limited 
amount  of  information  may  suffice  for  the  first  purpose, 
provided  it  be  of  such  diversity  as  to  elicit  the  manifold 
capabilities  of  the  mind ;  while  for  the  other,  no  extent 
or  variety  of  intellectual  wealth  will  be  found  superflu- 
ous. For  the  end  here  proposed,  let  the  decree  go 
forth,  l  that  all  the  world  should  be  taxed.'  Contem- 
plating mind  under  a  mere  intellectual  aspect,the  prop- 
er aim  of  education  is,  as  we  conceive,  to  impart  to  it 
aptitude,  comprehension,  power.  Dogmatic  teaching, 
or  a  knowledge  of  formulas  and  facts,  are  mainly  useful 


15 

as  they  stimulate  the  susceptibilities  of  the  mind,supply 
occasions  for  the  developement  and  exercise  of  its 
powers,  and  form  it  to  just  methods  of  thought,  as  Well 
as  to  the  needful  habits  of  patience  and  self-reliance. 
When  this  end  is  accomplished,  then  comes  the  period 
for  accumulation — for  enlarging'  and  arranging-  its  in- 
tellectual stores. 

But,  again,  a  Christian  system  of  education  is  not  re- 
alized in  the  developement  and  training  of  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  alone.  It  is  not  a  race  of  giants  which 
it  proposes  to  rear — prodigies  of  mere  intellectual  stat- 
ure and  strength ;  but  minds  endued  with  the  spirit 
and  virtues  of  Christian  men,  qualified  for  the  offices  of 
private  life,  and  fitted  to  adorn  the  various  stations  to 
be  occupied  in  a  Christian  commonwealth.  The  spirit 
of  a  people,  their  conscience,  their  moral  and  social 
sensibilities,  their  opinions,  customs,  habits,  need  to  be 
nurtured  and  directed,  no  less  than  those  mental  pow- 
ers on  which  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  depends. 
This  must  enter  into  the  aim  of  all  educational  enter- 
prises that  claim  to  be  Christian ;  and  moreover  such 
results  must  in  a  measure  be  realized,  or  a  Christian 
people  will  repudiate  such  enterprises  as  unsuited  to 
their  aim  and  destination ;  and  the  schools  and  colleges 
of  the  land  will  become  deserted  and  left  to  die. 

Having  thus  far  taken  a  general  survey  of  that  sys- 
tem  of  mental  and  moral  culture  which  is  suited  to  the 
youth  of  a  Christian  state ;  it  becomes  natural  to  in- 
quire for  the  means  and  processes  of  realizing  the  end 
proposed.  And  here  we  may  do  well  to  ask,  is  there  a 
self-educating  inethod,  so  simple,  so  attractive,  so  com- 
mensurate to  the  needs  of  the  mind  and  the  duties  of 
life,  as  to  be  actually  available  to  the  common  mass  of 


16 

society  1     Is  it  in  the  order  of  human  events,  that  each 
generation  in  any  community  grows  up  to  full  intellec- 
tual power  and  expansion?as  the  body,  by  natural  caus- 
es and  in  a  given  period  of  years,  attains  to  the  stature 
and  strength  of  the  perfect  man  7     Will  community 
rise  to  this  state  by  such  precarious  and  fitful  aids,  as 
they  will  be  likely  to  derive  from  those  of  elder  growth 
and  cultivation  than  themselves?     Moreover,  should 
knowledge  be  diffused  in  most   ample   measures,   by 
means  of  books  and  the  periodical  press,  would  even 
this  supply  the  absence  of  set  forms  and  long  continued 
processes  for  instructing  and  training  the  youthful  mind 
of  the  people  ?      Do  such  appliances,  where  the  most 
concentrated,   avail   in  raising  to  a   high   intellectual 
state  the  lower  masses  that  congregate  in  our  cities  1 
In  short,  is  not  man  in  all  the  phases  of  developement 
of  which  his  inner  being  is  susceptible,  the  creature  of 
Institutions — uncultivated  and' savage  in  their  absence, 
but  civilized  and  elevated  according  to  the  perfection 
to  which  these  attain,  and  to  the  force  with  which  they 
act  on  the  people  1     Nay  more,  what  is  the  social  state 
itself — the  only  state  in  which  man  can  truly  become 
man,  and  in  which  improvement,  beyond  the  sphere  of 
mere  instinct  or  of  absolute  necessity,  is  hardly  con- 
ceivable— but  a  state  of  institutions,  acknowledged,  re- 
spected, depended  on  for  the  well-being  of  those  who 
live  under  them  ]      These  are  not  only  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  social  life  already  begun,  the  exponents  of 
its  maturity  and  power ;    but  the  organs  of  its  future 
growth  and  perpetuity.      They  are   institutions   that 
create  a  people;  and  hence  God  ordained  them  for 
man  at  a  period,  when  man  was  untaught  to  provide 
them  for  himself.     Time,  with  the  aid  of  experience  or 


17 

accident,  may  modify  the  forms  of  our  institutions;  but 
the  things  themselves  must  remain,  or  man  takes  a  ret- 
rograde direction  and  society  itself  hastens  to  dissolu- 
tion. 

Institutions  of  Law  and  Religion  exist  wherever  the 
relation  of  man  to  man,  or  of  man  to  his  Creator  is  re- 
cognized. The  one  forms  the  natural  basis  of  human 
government,  the  other,  the  necessary  condition  to  the 
being  of  a  church — the  one  controlling  men  for  the  pur- 
poses of  society,  the  other  nurturing  them  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  Institutions  of  Learning,  which  are  of 
later  origin  but  which  are  to  be  found  in  a  less  or  more 
complete  state,  wherever  civilization  and  Christianity 
obtain — may  be  regarded  as  those  organic  contrivances 
by  which  a  people  seek  to  supply  their  intellectual 
wants,  and  aid  their  advancement  to  a  higher  and 
more  perfect  state.  What  community  would  think  of 
dispensing  with  its  religious  institutions — its  church,  its 
Sabbath,  its  public  assemblies,  its  teaching  ministry — 
but  as  preparatory  to  dispensing  with  religion  itself  1 
What  people  would  think  of  repudiating  their  Common 
Schools  and  depending  in  future  on  the  silent  teachings 
of  the  press,  who  had  not  first  concerted  to  extin- 
guish the  light  of  knowledge  before  the  eyes  of  their 
children,  and  bring  back  Cimmerian  darkness  and  the 
reign  of  old  Night  upon  their  land  ? 

Colleges  or  Universities — so  styled  because  they 
take  a  wider  scope  than  schools  of  a  lower  grade,  and 
are  adapted  to  a  higher  sphere  of  instruction  and  dis- 
cipline— are  but  one  in  a  series  of  institutions  which  to- 
gether form  the  educational  polity  of  a  cultivated  peo- 
ple. As  institutions  they  are  organic  parts  of  the  body 
politic — essential,  if  not  to  its  being,  at  least  to  its  well- 

3 


18 

being* ;  and  for  the  reason  that  they  concern  themselves 
with  the  more  advanced  stage  of  mental  culture,  they 
serve  as  the  support, the  regulator  of  the  whole  system  of 
popular  education — as,  historically  and  by  the  order  of 
necessity,  they  were  the  first  in  the  series. 

That  these  institutions  are  public,  precisely  in  the 
sense  that  common  schools  are  public — contemplating 
a  direct  influence  on  all  the  indiviual  minds  that  shall 
in  time  constitute  the  public — it  is  not  needful  to  affirm. 
There  are  many  things  from  which  important  benefits 
accrue  to  the  public,  which  at  the  same  time  are  not 
common  to  the  individuals  of  that  public,  as  the  road- 
side or  the  light  of  heaven  are  common.  We  do  main- 
tain, however,  that  colleges  are  public  and  common  in 
the  highest  sense  which  the  people  of  a  state  choose 
to  have  them.  They  are  created  for  high  public  pur- 
poses ;  they  have  a  specific,  ultimate  aim  to  the  public 
weal ;  they  are  accessible  to  all  the  sons  of  the  state, 
whom  a  love  of  learning,  or  a  desire  for  distinction  and 
usefulness  may  prompt  to  a  course  of  liberal  study :  and- 
that  they  are  not  even  free  to  such  and  free  to  all,  is 
due  to  their  narrow  endowments  rather  than  to  any 
exclusive  spirit  of  which  they  may  be  accused.  The 
end  which  they  propose  to  themselves  is  human  culture 
in  its  largest  sense  :  If  not  directly  to  advance  sound- 
learning  at  its  fountain  head,  at  least  to  select  and  ar- 
range, to  diffuse  and  render  available  to  society  at 
large,  the  labors  of  studious  minds  ;  to  foster  the  spirit 
of  learning,  and  train  the  youth  committed  to  their 
care  to  '  serve  their  generation  by  the  will  of  God ' — 
Faithless  to  its  true  purpose  and  aim  is  that  school  of 
learning  which  sinks  itself  to  the  level  of  a  trade— work- 
ing merely  for  its  own  ends,  or  limiting  its  offices  to  a 


19 

certain  mercenary  influence  on  the  few  minds  that  are 
attracted  to  its  halls. 

A  worthy  and  noble  end  is  doubtless  achieved  when 
even  a  few  youthful  minds  are  imbued  with  the  true 
spirit  of  liberal  study,  inured  to  patient  and  scholarlike 
habits  of  thought,  and  enriched  with  various  stores  of 
knowledge. 

But  even  in  no  such  result  as  this,  is  the  design  of  a 
truly  liberal  institution  fully  realized.  It  has  a  wider 
scope — a  far  loftier  aim.  She  seeks  indeed,  as  a  proxi- 
mate end,  to  nurture  the  individual  mind  ;  but  she  ever 
more  looks  forward  to  the  day  when  her  sons  shall  go 
forth  to  strengthen  and  adorn  the  social  fabric.  She 
allies  herself  to  all  the  great  and  abiding  interests  of 
the  community,  in  whose  bosom  she  herself  is  fostered. 
She  regards  herself  and  those  who  are  nurtured  at  her 
fountains  of  truth  and  knowledge,  as  the  humble  servi- 
tors of  the  Church  and  State.  So  far  as  she  enjoys  the 
patronage  of  the  public,  and  within  her  appropriate 
sphere,  she  charges  herself  with  seeing  that  the  pub- 
lic service  is  provided  for.  She  would  supply  the 
schools  of  the  land  with  competent  teachers,  or  other- 
wise aid  in  elevating  that  branch  of  useful  labor  to  the 
demands  of  the  age.  Her  aim  is  to  prepare  strong 
and  earnest  men  for  the  Pulpit ;  and  to  endue  with 
science  and  skill  those  who  are  destined  to  the  liberal 
or  industrial  Arts  of  life.  She  aspires  to  the  honor  of 
rearing  statesmen  for  the  Cabinet,  jurists  for  the  Bench, 
orators  for  the  Forum  and  the  Senate,  and  safe  and 
powerful  thinkers  for  the  Press. 

And  can  an  enlightened,  progressive  community  with 
safety  to  her  true  interests,  dispense  with  institutions  of 
such  aims — that  have  been  and  that  still  are  productive 


20 

in  such  results  1  Have  the  people  of  this  land  reached 
that  point,  at  which  they  may  beg-in  to  depend  on  oth- 
er means  and  appliances  for  supplying*  the  public  servr 
ice  either  in  Church  or  State  1  Nay,  is  not  the  main 
argument  against  the  fostering  of  these  institutions,  the 
very  one,  on  which  their  utility  and  necessity  may  be 
urged  with  complete  success  before  an  intelligent  and 
candid  tribunal  1  In  the  same  proportion  that  the 
standard  of  intelligence  rises  among  the  people,  must 
we  add  to  the  stature  aud  strength  of  those  minds 
which  are  to  influence  and  guide  the  people.  The 
men  of  power  in  one  age,  are  not  the  men  of  power 
for  all  ages ;  they  must  rise  with  the  people  whom  they 
assume  to  lead ;  or  the  people  will  tread  them  down  in 
their  might,  or  kindly  pass  them  back  upon  the  age  to 
which  they  belong.  Conceding  the  fact,as  we  are  hap- 
py to  do,  that  the  means  of  knowledge  are  far  more 
amply  and  widely  supplied  to  our  people  than  at  any 
former  period  in  our  history,  or  in  the  history  of  man — 
that  far  more  intelligence  is  actually  diffused,  and  that 
men  were  never  so  competent  to  think  and  speculate 
wisely  for  themselves ;  the  only  use  that  can  be  made 
of  this  concession,  to  the  case  in  hand,  is  to  make  more 
obvious  the  necessity  for  the  higher  institutions  of  learn- 
ing as  the  means  of  providing  that  order  of  intelligence 
and  culture  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  age.  How  shall 
the  Pulpit,  or  the  Bench,  or  the  Hall  of  legislation,  or 
the  periodical  Press,  continue  to  be  held  in  respect  and 
to  sway  their  accustomed  influence  over  the  public 
mind,  unless  they  be  served  with  a  power  of  intelli- 
gence and  thought,  that  shall  preserve  itself  in  advance 
of  the  people  ?  There  remains  but  this  alternative — 
the  masses  must  be  arrested  in  their  progress,  or  minds 


21 

of  high  intellectual  culture  and  power  called  into  serv- 
ice. We  conclude,  then,  that  it  is  no  time  to  decry  the 
higher  institutions  of  Learning,  when  even  the  indus- 
trial classes  among-  us  are  solving*  deeper  problems  and 
supplying  themselves  with  a  higher  order  of  literature 
than  even  the  majority  of  educated  men  were  masters 
of  fifty  years  ago ;  that  if  colleges  are  ever  indispensa- 
ble to  a  people,  it  is  not  when  at  their  lower,  but  at 
their  higher  stage  of  culture.  In  a  community  ad- 
vanced and  advancing  like  our  own,  the  present  would 
be  the  epoch  for  such  institutions  to  appear,  if  they  had 
not  already  appeared ;  and  the  question  in  regard  to 
them,  most  likely  to  interest  liberal  and  thinking  minds 
would  not  be,  whether  they  should  cease']  but  how 
shall  they  be  made  more  commensurate  to  the  wants 
of  this  and  coming  times  ? 

The  very  great  number  to  which  the  literary  insti- 
tutions among  us,  professedly  of  the  higher  class,  have 
attained — as  it  betrays  a  tendency  to  excess — may 
have  contributed  to  bring  the  system  itself  into  disre- 
pute. An  European  might  naturally  ask  himself,  what 
necessity  for  a  hundred  and  twenty  colleges,  can  there 
be  among  a  people  whose  aggregate  population  does 
not  exceed  twenty  millions  ]  Or,  by  what  rule  of  po- 
litical economy  do  they  find  their  interest  in  supporting 
so  expensive  an  establishment  for  the  education  of  only 
ten  thousand  young  men  ?  Why  not  consolidate  them 
into  a  small  number,  and  thereby  enlarge  their  endow- 
ments to  the  standard  of  the  institutions  of  the  Old 
World? 

The  fact  here  adverted  to  is  doubtless  felt  to  be  an 
evil  at  home  as  well  as  abroad.  But  in  passing  on  the 
wisdom  or  folly  of  this  arrangement,  it  is  but  just  to 


22 

consider  the  extent  of  our  domain  in  comparison  to  the 
circumscribed  spaces  occupied  by  the  several  states  of 
Europe ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  genius  and  poli- 
cy of  our  people  as  exhibited  in  almost  all  their  social 
arrangements.  The  argument  for  greatly  reducing  the 
number  of  our  colleges,  would  cut  deep  at  the  same 
time  into  the  very  fabric  of  our  political  organization. 
Thirty  distinct  governments,  duly  appointed  for  a  state 
of  peace  or  war,  and  yet  in  important  respects  limited 
and  controlled  by  a  superior  and  all-embracing  legisla- 
tion— might  seem  an  awkward  and  lavish  contrivance 
for  protecting  the  rights  of  men.  But  in  these  and 
kindred  matters,  the  question  is  not — what  is  the  sim- 
plest and  the  cheapest ;  but  what  sorts  best  with  the 
genius  and  habits  of  the  people?  Our  political  ar- 
ragements  may  neither  be  wise  or  economical  in  the 
judgment  of  others  ;  but  they  serve  at  least,  to  gratify 
a  humor  we  have ;  and  what  is  more,  to  secure,  as  we 
conceive,some  substantial  benefits  for  which  we  can  af- 
ford to  be  taxed. 

For  a  like  reason  a  democratic  and  widely  spread 
people  must  be  indulged  in  some  peculiarities  in  regard 
to  their  Literary  institutions.  Our  national,  cherished 
policy  is  thoroughly  adverse  to  all  centralizing  tenden- 
cies. We  are  jealous  of  the  great  accumulation  of  po- 
litical, commercial,  and  monetary  power ;  we  choose  to 
have  it  diffused  over  the  broad  domain,  even  at  the  risk 
of  a  great  reduction.  We  betray  the  same  spirit,  at 
least,  we  adopt  the  same  policy  in  regard  to  the  higher 
institutions  of  learning.  If  they  are  a  local  as  well  as 
public  benefit ;  or  if  their  utility  is  to  be  measured  by 
the  numbers  they  educate,  rather  than  by  the  degree 
of  culture  they  impart  to  a  comparatively  few,  then  let 


23 

them  multiply  with  the  people  to  enjoy  them.  The 
voice  of  the  people  is,  Let  these  lights  be  distributed 
throughout  the  great  house  of  the  nation  even  though 
they  may  burn  with  a  feebler  radiance ;  rather  than  con- 
densed into  one  brilliant,  intense,  central  blaze,  leaving* 
the  extreme  parts  shaded  in  l  disastrous  twilight.'  Such 
is  the  policy  that  prevails  among  us ;  and  the  wise  men 
of  this  clay  will  leave  it  undisturbed  ;  and  only  strive  to 
make  it  the  most  conducive  to  the  public  good. 

But  from  the  train  of  thought  into  which  I  have  been 
led  by  the  seeming  demands  of  the  occasion,  I  return 
for  a  moment  to  our  own  institution  and  to  the  incident 
which  occasions  the  present  ceremony.  The  Univer- 
sity of  Vermont  was  created  for  the  purpose  of  realiz- 
ing that  idea  of  a  liberal  education  which  was  early 
entertained  by  the  leading  minds  in  our  state.  Its  ap- 
pellation may  indeed  sound  somewhat  lofty  and  ambi- 
tious on  prudish  ears ;  and  as  a  mere  matter  of  taste  a 
more  modest  style  ,perhaps,  might  have  become  the  lips 
of  a  democratic  people.  Still,  if  we  regard  the  name  only 
as  significant  of  the  intention  of  its  founders — to  make 
it  the  one,  the  universal  college  for  the  state — the  ob- 
jection loses  much  of  its  force.  It  was  deemed  impor- 
tant that  Vermont  should  be  supplied  with  a  College 
adequate  to  its  wants,  and  felt  to  be  desirable  that  it 
should  enjoy  the  united  patronage  of  the  state ;  and 
hence  it  received  its  present  designation.  The  location 
of  the  college  was  the  result  of  slow  and  cautious  de- 
liberation ;  and  its  present  site  was  determined  on,  it 
would  seem,  by  its  relation  to  other  institutions  of  the 
same  rank,  and  by  a  prospective  regard  to  the  future 
population  of  the  state,  and  to  those  local,  physical  ad- 
vantages which  must  always  influence  the  industrial 


24 

and  mercantile  enterprises  of  a  people.  And  who  that 
surveys  the  area  of  our  state — or  the  population  and 
wealth  that  have  accumulated  and  are  still  accumulat- 
ing* in  our  northern  sections,  and  the  points  toward 
which  business  and  trade  are  tending- ;  or  who  glances 
his  eye  over  the  range  of  prospect,  or  studies  the  grand 
and  picturesque  scenery  that  environs  its  present  site — 
will  call  in  question  the  wisdom  of  that  decision  ?  Oth- 
er plans  and  those  of  sectional  origin  and  aim,  subse- 
qently  arose  to  disturb  the  scheme  at  first  entertained ; 
but  though  it  will  be  the  subject  of  regret  that  the 
counsels  of  the  friends  of  education  among  us  became 
thus  divided,  let  it  now  be  the  concern  of  all  to  render 
this  evil  as  inoperative  as  possible. 

Embarrassments  and  disasters  not  uncommon  to  new 
institutions  in  a  new  country,  have  attended  the  rise 
and  history  of  this  University ;  yet  its  course  has  been 
onWard,  until  it  has  reached  a  point  in  respectability 
and  usefulness  unsurpassed,  we  must  think,  by  any  in- 
stitution Within  the  same  period  of  its  growth.  But 
the  college,  like  the  state  that  fosters  it,  is  still  in  its 
youth. — It  feels,  we  trust,  the  impulses,  cherishes  the 
strivings,  and  is  stimulated  by  the  hopes  which  belong 
to  the  youth  of  life.  It  is  her  ambition  by  her  labors 
and  results — by  the  tone  of  scholarship,  of  manly  vir- 
tue, and  Christian  piety,  which  she  may  nurture  here ; 
and  by  the  intelligence  and  power,  the  devoted,  earnest 
spirit  she  may  contribute  to  the  service  of  the  Church 
and  State — to  deserve  well  of  the  people  who  have 
called  her  into  being.  She  hopes  to  enjoy  the  counsels 
of  the  wise,  the  benedictions  of  the  good,  the  approba- 
tion of  all.  She  desires  to  make  her  retreats  safe  and 
attractive  to  the  youth  of  the  state ;  and  by  the  number 


25 

and  the  qualifications  of  those  who  go  forth  from  her. 
She  would  aspire  to  the  highest  honor  that  is  reserved 
to  human  agency — that  of  serving  the  generations  of 
men  according  to  the  will  of  God.  Her  expectation  is 
to  grow  with  the  growth  of  the  people — to  be  strength- 
ened with  their  strength  ;  and  to  feel  the  weight  and 
infirmities  of  years,  only  when  the  strong  pillars  of  so- 
ciety itself  shall  give  signs  of  weariness  and  decay ! 

I  may  already  have  trespassed  on  the  patience  of 
my  audience  ;  but  a  just  regard  to  my  own  feelings  as 
well  as  to  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion,  is  my  apolo- 
gy for  detaining  you  by  a  few  remarks  to  the  preserd 
members  of  College. 

In  presenting  myself  before  you  at  this  time,  young 
Gentlemen,  it  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  I  may  do  it,  if 
not  as  a  personal  acquaintance,  at  least  as  one  who 
may  make  some  pretensions  to  a  special  interest  in  your 
welfare.  I  come  to  you  from  among  the  same  people 
in  whose  bosom  most  of  you  were  born  and  nurtured. 
I  have  mingled  with  them  in  the  toils  and  assiduities  of 
life.  I  have  studied  their  character ;  I  have  adopted 
their  customs ;  I  have  become  imbued  with  their  spirit. 
Their  interests  and  mine  have  long  since  become  one. 
For  twenty-five  years  past  my  duties  have  often  called 
me  to  the  college ;  I  have  borne  an  humble  part  in  her 
counsels ;  I  have  participated  in  her  anxieties  and  en- 
couragements, and  cherished  an  interest  in  the  success 
of  those  who  have  resorted  hither  for  instruction.  May 
I  not  then  offer  myself  to  you  as  an  acquaintance  and 
friend ;  may  I  not  ask  it  of  you  to  receive  me  with  that 
open  and  confiding  spirit  which  shall  assure  me  that  I 
am  still  at  home. 

I  come  hither,  young  men,  not  in  pursuit  of  honors  or 


26 

to  enjoy  repose ;  but  to  seek  your  welfare,  and  to  aid 
in  preparing-  you  for  honor  and  usefulness  among*  men. 
It  shall  be  my  endeavor  to  assist  you  with  such  coun- 
sels as  my  wisdom  and  experience  may  supply ;  to 
guard  you  from  such  dangers  as  beset  the  path  of  the 
youthful  mind ;  to  soothe  your  anxieties  ;  to  make  your 
toils  pleasant ;  and  by  all  proper  incitements  encourage 
you  to  the  pursuit  of  whatsoever  thing's  are  true,  and 
lovely,  and  of  good  report.  Yea,  in  the  awful  language 
of  scripture,  I  will  charge  myself  Ho  watch  for  your 
souls  as  one  that  must  give  account !' 

Be  it  your  concern,  young  Friends,  to  reciprocate 
such  aims  and  good  offices  from  me  and  my  associates, 
by  a  courteous  and  manly  deportment — by  diligent  ap- 
plication to  your  several  duties — by  a  ready  and  cheer- 
ful observance  of  the  order  and  discipline  of  college — 
and  a  manifested  desire  to  make  our  labors  pleasant 
though  arduous.  Then  will  our  acquaintance  soon  rip- 
en into  a  friendship  that  will  survive  the  short  period  of 
our  college  connexion,  and  be  renewed,  we  may  hope, 
in  that  '  life  beyond  life/  to  which  God  grant  we  may 
all  aspire ! 


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